Dirt tri in Albuquerque was this Sunday! We were lucky to have Clay's godparents watching Mila which meant no crazy early wake up for her and plenty of time to ourselves pre-race. Happens so rarely now I didnt know what to do with it!
Another huge plus was that Clay is quite into off-road tris this summer and wanted to fit in at least 3 to get a USAT ranking in off-road. Sounds easy to us 'road tri' people, but off-road tris arent as easy to come by, which means more travel and consequently more stress scheduling each with the whole family. Plus, my mtn biking is in serious need of work so I cant really participate in most off -road tris with Clay which does take the family fun out of it. Hence the ideal dirt tri - near by and simple enough for even Dina's mtn bike skills AND a babysitter to allow us both to do it - WOHOO!
On to the race - it was on the grounds of the Albq Academy private school. I've never been at one and this one is nicer than most university grounds I've experienced - wow! Since this is all fenced off, its well protected from any traffic - great for any first timers and kids in particular!
The start was interesting, 100yard mass dash to bikes layed out near the mount line. Well, ok, for some of us, not so much a 'dash' as a limpy jog in your bike shoes through lumpy grass, slippery cement and sandy dirt. Dont think I care for this start, but definitely interesting to try. Once I got to the bikes I realized I wasnt sure exactly where I layed mine down- seemed to be the case for some others too as they were running from bike to bike looking! Thank goodness for the bright red sides on my bike seat!
Anyway, off on the bike which started with a few hundred yards of pavement - ech! hate pavement with mtn bike tires! Anyway, I started biking like I'm used to in a tri and wondering what the heck the others are doing dawdling. Not that I'm that fast at all, but the biking style and general feeling was nothing like a road tri. Guess those off-road people are different. No one was even trying to breathe hard - I slowed down to make sure I wasnt missing something. Then I figured that who cares and passed as many people as I could before we got on the 'dirt'.... and then my fear of sand and any other such unreliable surfaces to bike on kicked in nicely! After a few slippery moments and freak outs due to people all around me (!) it all got better. The first bit is mostly a gradual up which I'm perfectly happy with and I was still passing people.
Do note, this is the world's easiest off-road event. Any dramatization is due solely to the fact that I have a panic attack just thinking of any descent on even slightly sandy or gravely surface and it is further compounded with having people all around me with all the passing and avoiding! I can barely avoid bushes - moving people are a lot harder! :)
Anyway, biking uphill was nice and I realized that despite having mtn biked less than 10 times in the past 4 years and only 5 of them on this bike this is quite fun and the bike felt great! Thanks to Paul Graham Outfitters for my awesome Stumpjumper! Also, thanks to me for thinking to lock out the shocks - they were so not necessary and the bouncing was really annoying on the warm up. Anyway, the uphill ended as they all do and the downhill started (again, here is some Dina-dramatization: SANDY DOWNHILL! WITH TURNS AT BOTTOM! MASSIVE PANIC! PEOPLE COMING UP BEHIND ME AS I START BREAKING UNCONTROLLABLY! Wow, total fiasco! I all but let go of the steering assuming I'm about to seriously eat it in the bushes and I was trying to figure out which would be softer and then it all worked out - I guess 'letting the bike go" was the thing to do - YEAH! Amazingly I stayed up fine, although I was seriously hyperventilating and my hands were numb from the elbows down from squeezing so hard. Due to all this panic, the downhills were actually a lot more aerobically taxing for me than any uphills!
Then before the next downhill I calmed down enough to realize that these dirt bike wierdos really work the downhill! LIKE CRAZY! Good for them, but then it makes you wonder even more when they barely make it up the next hill, no matter how gentle and easy it may be - What The Heck?! Is it some unofficial off-road thing to not work at all on anything that's against gravity?! This strange difference in approach (and my breaking on the downhills which DID get better towards the end! :) resulted in HUGE yo-yoing between me about 25 people.
Once I got over the surprises the whole thing was a lot of fun! I didnt fall, but in a few really deep arroyos ended up having to dismount in the deeper sand pits. Not too bad. Finishign the bike was on the same pavement stretch and as I turned onto it Clay was already running on it (that means he is finishing his run!). He cheered for me (yay! :). Anyway, I biked into the transition wondering if I can do the run due to painfully strained muscle from the SnD earlier that week. I figured I was going to walk the run, so why rush - I waited for Clay to run into T2 and head into the pool with a ridiculous lead! WoHOO!
I started the run but letting everyone pass me and then realized that running isnt hurting as much as it was earlier! So I sped up and ended up passing some people back - not too bad when you were expecting to have to walk! :) Anyway, ran the rest of the run fine if very slowly, even tried to draft off a 9-year-old boy half the size of my right leg in a bad headwind. As you can imagine it was very helpful to me and gives you the idea of my overall speed and location in the race pack! :) Finally got to T2. Pretty fun so far!
Stripped down to the swimsuit - no small feat with being all sticky! and headed into the pool. Got to pass loads of people before I finished - with the swim last it's always a fun race for me! And Laury and Clay cheered for me - super YAY!
Great stuff. Called to check on Mila, she was all good, so we had to wait for awards (frikin Clay and his doing well! :) But then the total bummer part came. They decided to DQ Clay because he took a wrong turn on the course mainly due to the fact that he was so far ahead volunteers didnt make it to that intersection yet and so no one directed him. That bites. Really. Couldnt believe what a good sport Clay was about the whole thing. Said he understood and tried to make Patrick feel better about having to deliver bad news and then thanked him again for a great event. Didnt complain once even after we left and it was just me and him. Gotta love him! :))))) I was REALLY bummed but since he was being so cool and positive I figured I'd better hold my whining in. Plus, we dont have to stick around for awards now so we can go get Mila sooner. Gotta focus on the positive! :)
Now Clay doesnt have three off-road tris and the next one he can do overlaps with Socorro which is closer, we both can do and love to support! So he will likely stick to doing Socorro instead. ARGH!
In view of this I was thinking that things (events etc) are always aimed at the middle of the pack. You cant help that. So now I realize when someone is reviewing an event is important to know hwere they were in the race - front? middle? last? I'm usually middle and from that perspective this Dirt Tri was very racer friendly and well organized. However, I've been completely DFL before - xc ski race marathon. I was just starting the second half of it when they packed away all aid stations - every single one and later realized it and left a cup and a GU out for me in the snow at the last few - I was almost crying the whole last 3 miles. Then when I finished the finishline was already put away and the race dir was saying "that's all for the bbq and the raffle, thanks for coming, everyone!" You can imagine my race review wouldnt have been most positive even though I know I was crazy slow by all 'middle of pack' expectations.
I also got lucky to lead a race once - ok, not in real time, but it was a TT start with swim first and I was well by myself through most of the swim. Aside from the excitement it was also a royal pain - when I tried to turn the last bouy the kayaker volunteer grabbed on to my suit and wouldnt let me turn to shore thinking I have to do another lap because they didnt realize I was leading. That was a fun little fight. Then on the bike I had no one to follow and lets just say course marking shouldnt EVER be commented on by people who have a few dozen other racers to follow. I had to turn around twice because the volunteers (and more frighteningly: police and traffic control!) apparently dont get their stuff together until the first few racers get them ready by getting lost (hopefully just lost and not getting hit by cars!). Lovely! While I did enjoy the lead car (it was late, but did finally arrive and lead me in on the way back) I certainly had a whole lot more respect for anyone leading the race - its downright dangerous for them! This is another reason I'm such a controlling b*tch when it comes to directing/organizing lead car/police stuff on Atomic Man race day!
Anyway, based on that, it still really bums me out the Dirt Tri went with the DQ. Again, more kudos to my fantastic husband who complimented the race the whole time and still is - what a great sport and a great role model for Mila!
...And I do highly recommend the event, particularly as your first off-road - lots of fun both the course and afterwards (they had sub sandwiches and homemade cookies and a live band for awards!). And for those who get nervous about the crowds in the pool - this is your race - no crowds! They use two pools so people only have to do each lane once and this isnt a huge race, a combination which makes for clean easy passing/getting passed without much clustering or stress.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Swim/Cycle Series Episode #2
Despite a less than desirable forecast, the day started off alright. Air temps ~70, probably the same for the water, overcast. The water level dropped significantly from last week.
(L to R: Max Light, Ben Davis, Bill Bearden, Bill Geist, Kim Meyer, Liz Miller, Peter Song, Paul Graham)
After a 2700 meter swim (thanks to Taraka for the kayak chaperone), we mounted the bikes for a long ride. The inclement weather caught up to us, however, and we finished a ~30 mile ride nicely wet. Al round good time, judging from the smiles. Thanks for coming everyone! Tentative repeat on July 12th.
Thanks Jian for the pictures!
(L to R: Max Light, Ben Davis, Bill Bearden, Bill Geist, Kim Meyer, Liz Miller, Peter Song, Paul Graham)After a 2700 meter swim (thanks to Taraka for the kayak chaperone), we mounted the bikes for a long ride. The inclement weather caught up to us, however, and we finished a ~30 mile ride nicely wet. Al round good time, judging from the smiles. Thanks for coming everyone! Tentative repeat on July 12th.
Thanks Jian for the pictures!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Carpool to Mtn Man?
Looking for anyone that is going (or wants to go) to Mtn Man in Flagstaff. Would like to carpool. Please contact Ben @ 310-4835 or trimainiac@gmail.com
Swim/Cycle Series, episode #1
I think everyone had a good time last Sunday at Cochiti. The weather was excellent, the water quite nice (67-68 if I heard Tina correctly), and *I* missed the dogs.
Thanks to Bill for the use of his kayak and Taraka for chaperoning the swim.
For those of you not going to the Buff this weekend, we'll gather at Sullivan Field this Sunday @ 7 am for another round. This time a few of us will be swimming longer (~1 hr) and going for a longer ride. Hopefully the weather will hold.
Monday, June 22, 2009
XTERRA Buffalo Creek Race Report
Hi all,
Hope the season is going well for all of you. Word has it that Dan Rees nailed his IMCD and is a probable qualifier for Kona, again! Congratulations Dan. It was a PR for him on that course by quite a bit, so he's proving that sticking with this sport pays off over the long haul.
Speaking of long haul, Laury Goddard and I (and Kim Katko & family), made the long haul up to Bailey, Colorado for the Buffalo Creek XTERRA. Bailey is mostly a tourist trap hole in the road on US Hwy 285 between Denver and Fairplay (a.k.a. "South Park," for all of you fans out there). The venue is at Wellington Lake, a 45 minute drive on a dirt road off of US 285. It is a lovely setting for a race, as well as just hanging out and camping with the family, or whatever. Lots of great campsites can be found, and that's almost a prerequisite if you want to do this race. It's even included with the race entry fee if you choose to do so.
Dr. Goddard and I hauled up there Friday morning, because neither of us had ever seen the venue and with XTERRA, you want to check out the bike course. Unfortunately, the course was too long to go see the whole thing after driving all that way, so we just focused on the very sketchy 3 mile decent along Buffalo Creek itself, on a forest road that consisted of a hard-packed surface transversed by deep drainage trenches (mostly in the turns) and covered in ball-bearing-like eroded crushed granite. It sounds worse than it was, but a lot of care had to be taken on the descent to avoid skittering off the road into the mountainside, or off on the steep slope down to Buffalo Creek.
Friday was nice, but we woke up to a dark, grey day on Saturday morning. We had camped out, so we didn't really have to go far to the venue, which was very nice. We ate breakfast looking out over the lake and wondered what the weather held in store.
The lake is a mountain lake that had only "warmed up" in the last month or so. I loved all of the "ice fishing" signs all over the lakesides. I gathered that the lake temperature was somewhere in the 50s and there were some complaints, but I've done it before and it doesn't seem to bother me too much, although I did get an ice cream headache from it a little bit.
This is the biggest XTERRA race in the world, second only to the world championships at Maui. It was pretty big, that's for sure. I was in a huge wave of guys aged 25-39, plus relays. We watched the pros take off, and they had us all walk out to the edge of the lake in a cove, and I waited for the countdown. Well, there was no countdown or warning of any sort and the guy just sounded a horn and I soon found myself running into the lake with no goggles on. I had them in my hand and had to stop and put them on only after figuring out what had happened after having run and jumped in and actually swam with them in my hand for several strokes. Too much race-start horn response conditioning! What an IDIOT! I was treading water and getting run over and hit and etc., etc., by the whole wave of men 25-39, plus relays, while trying to put the goggles on straight and not be leaky. It was a panicked moment, and to say the least, I didn't do a very good job. I had goggles on crooked and they were half-full (is that pessimistic, or optimistic if used this way?) of water. That sucked. I was SO uncomfortable and distracted and now over-extending myself on the swim to just get going. I finally stopped a little later and dumped out the water and put them on straight, but the damage was done. I had some ground to make up.
I swam steady and tried to focus on getting it together, then I finally got into my rhythm and started to catch the "front group" a little. It was mostly stragglers coming off of it, but I felt like I was back into the race. Unfortunately, the screwed up start made my goggles get all fogged up and with the dark, grey conditions, it wasn't long before I couldn't see a darn thing...just grey darkness. I really had to pull my head out of the water to make out swimmers ahead of me or the buoy on shore. I just focused on swimming straight and smoothly and begged for the end to come quickly to that fiasco. I swam the one-mile swim in 24:40, which turned out to be not so bad, but was a good 2 minutes off of what I should have done, which would have been a very decent swim.
Once out, it was time for the mtn bike adventure. This course is pretty long at 20 miles. I only saw the early parts of the course and realized we were going to be in a lot of big terrain changes. I didn't want to overdo it, but was smarting from the rocky swim, so I sort of hit it pretty hard. My legs felt heavy and I had guys breathing down my neck on the previous-mentioned 3 mile decent. That always makes me nervous. I prefer to do stuff like that alone, but I would never have that luxury in this very popular and competitive race. The whole day was spent either catching guys, getting caught by guys, or trying to stay with those guys.
At the bottom of the climb, I found myself with a cluster of fast mtn bikers. I tried like hell to stay with them. I did OK at first, but when the climbing got technical, the heavy feeling was too much. My back started getting achy very early and it affected me all day. I did pretty well to ignore it mostly, but it was always there and I know it took a bit of the frosting off my cake all day. I was riding a dual suspension bike because I figured the course would be a tough one, but I think I would have rather had a much lighter hard-tail because I seemed to have more trouble on the climbs than the descents on this course, and everyone around me all had much lighter rigs. Mine is a hand-me-down from Paul Graham, who is now riding something lighter for that very reason. I admit I want to blame that quite a bit, but it was probably mostly my go-jo that seemed to be missing that day. It wasn't an awful day, but I'd say that I wasn't 100%, or even in the range of an "A" grade.
I also made quite a number of technical errors on that course. It had quite a bit of everything, and the single track had some particular challenges when racing at full speed. I was always behind some guys who were pushing me well past my comfort zone and I focused too hard on staying with them and not enough on what was coming up. At one point, we went into a stand of trees on a steep descent, where there was a stream crossing and a very steep ascent up the other side. I didn't shift in time and found myself WAY over-geared and had to dismount and run up a long hill, all the while getting passed by those who were breathing down my neck just moments ago. Plus, I must have pulled my wheel in the dropouts, because the disk brakes were rubbing badly and the shifting was all messed up. I rode like that for quite a distance while debating on whether I should pull over, lose more spots, and try to fix it. The annoyance got the best of me, so I pulled over and fixed it. It wasn't as bad as I had figured and I was soon off and riding much better. I was quickly getting disappointed in my race, however.
At times like that, you just have to suck it up and focus on improving your situation. I started focusing more on smoother transitions in and out of technical spots, climbing more smoothly, and having fun, dang it! Sure enough, I began to get my act together and felt like I was riding better and during one particularly cool long section of single track, I smiled at how much fun it all was. I got through the final long single track climb (where we met up with the short course racers), got back onto the dirt road and hit the 3 mile climb that we descended early in the race.
It was here that I felt like I was riding a heavy lead bike, but kept myself smooth and made it over in good shape. A guy who had passed me early in the race, but had suffered a pretty heinous crash (and scared the crap out of me because I nearly ran over his head) came flying by me over the top and I grabbed his wheel (drafted, cause it's legal in XTERRA =) and rode really hard into T2.
I was surprised by my T2 quickness. That's usually an indication of how into the race you are and how you might go on the run. But, it was too early to tell because the early part of this run was up a steep mountain trail. It just felt horrible and my upper body went numb. It took a lot out of me to get to the top and I had let two guys pass me early with no response. At the top, the trail started going down steep, off-camber hills, right back into steep uphills. This went on for some time before we hit a very steep downhill to the base of a nice waterfall. At the bottom, we zigged and zagged through thick forest and scrambled through creeks and over little log bridges, making direction changes every few feet. It was tough running, but I started feeling good again and was having fun.
The trail portion was a little less than half of the run. We exited the trail onto the forest road that circumnavigated the lake. It was here that I suddenly felt my run get under me, despite having some cramping in my quads and hamstrings. I used a little less range of motion and a higher turnover and started picking off guys left and right. I noticed a very tiny racer just ahead and realized it was a chick! I was confused but soon remembered that the pros started ahead and some of them were women. It turns out that this was Sara Tarkington, the woman who eventually won the overall. She was quite a runner and it took a second wind and some digging to catch up to her.
I tried to pass her, but she was having none of it and latched onto another guy who surged ahead. I couldn't respond and a gap formed. A storm was building ahead of us and the cool, moist wind was in our faces. Sarah and the other guy lost steam and I caught back up. I found my rhythm again with a couple of miles to go and just held it steady on their heels. Our little group of three (I rarely race in such close quarters with others like this) were picking off all of the fast mtn bikers who could no longer run fast. It was a LOT of fun and I was impressed with this tiny woman's running speed and toughness.
Nearing the end of the dirt road before we descended a short hill to the lakeshore and final stretch to the finish, we passed a guy with his age, 38, on his leg (I'm in the 35-39 AG). I didn't think anything of it, but he made a gasping stuttered, "Uh, uh...," noise, then said, "...that's not good." The guy had been holding 3rd in our age group until our little group, with me in tow, went flying past him. He tried for a few moments to hang onto us, but couldn't quite do it. We started picking up steam into the finish and he fell off a little bit more. I realized at the very end that I had worked my way back into the top-3 of my age group. I finished with the first place pro women and the other guy who had started off a little slow, but obviously picked it up the whole way to the finish, pretty much like I did.
Right when I finished, it started raining. Laury was still out there and had to contend with the worsening weather. He got done and went straight to the car to change and get warm. We waited around for the awards, where we found out that Kim Katko had picked up 2nd OVERALL in the women's short course race...way to go, Kim!
Laury and I hit the road in a pouring rain. It rained all the way back to the Arkansas valley. We stopped in Salida for dinner and were hit by a mob of people...it was the FibARK freak festival (river rafting and lots of other stuff) weekend. No parking, hard to get around, etc. We settled on an out of the way cafe, where the food was pretty good.
It was a great trip and a very fun, if not tough, race. Lots of racers in Colorado! It's just amazing how many of them there are and how many other events there are on any given weekend there.
If you're inclined to do an XTERRA, this one is cool, but be ready for a tough, longer course. They have the short course option too, so that would be a good start. I recommend the race for sure...
Hope the season is going well for all of you. Word has it that Dan Rees nailed his IMCD and is a probable qualifier for Kona, again! Congratulations Dan. It was a PR for him on that course by quite a bit, so he's proving that sticking with this sport pays off over the long haul.
Speaking of long haul, Laury Goddard and I (and Kim Katko & family), made the long haul up to Bailey, Colorado for the Buffalo Creek XTERRA. Bailey is mostly a tourist trap hole in the road on US Hwy 285 between Denver and Fairplay (a.k.a. "South Park," for all of you fans out there). The venue is at Wellington Lake, a 45 minute drive on a dirt road off of US 285. It is a lovely setting for a race, as well as just hanging out and camping with the family, or whatever. Lots of great campsites can be found, and that's almost a prerequisite if you want to do this race. It's even included with the race entry fee if you choose to do so.
Dr. Goddard and I hauled up there Friday morning, because neither of us had ever seen the venue and with XTERRA, you want to check out the bike course. Unfortunately, the course was too long to go see the whole thing after driving all that way, so we just focused on the very sketchy 3 mile decent along Buffalo Creek itself, on a forest road that consisted of a hard-packed surface transversed by deep drainage trenches (mostly in the turns) and covered in ball-bearing-like eroded crushed granite. It sounds worse than it was, but a lot of care had to be taken on the descent to avoid skittering off the road into the mountainside, or off on the steep slope down to Buffalo Creek.
Friday was nice, but we woke up to a dark, grey day on Saturday morning. We had camped out, so we didn't really have to go far to the venue, which was very nice. We ate breakfast looking out over the lake and wondered what the weather held in store.
The lake is a mountain lake that had only "warmed up" in the last month or so. I loved all of the "ice fishing" signs all over the lakesides. I gathered that the lake temperature was somewhere in the 50s and there were some complaints, but I've done it before and it doesn't seem to bother me too much, although I did get an ice cream headache from it a little bit.
This is the biggest XTERRA race in the world, second only to the world championships at Maui. It was pretty big, that's for sure. I was in a huge wave of guys aged 25-39, plus relays. We watched the pros take off, and they had us all walk out to the edge of the lake in a cove, and I waited for the countdown. Well, there was no countdown or warning of any sort and the guy just sounded a horn and I soon found myself running into the lake with no goggles on. I had them in my hand and had to stop and put them on only after figuring out what had happened after having run and jumped in and actually swam with them in my hand for several strokes. Too much race-start horn response conditioning! What an IDIOT! I was treading water and getting run over and hit and etc., etc., by the whole wave of men 25-39, plus relays, while trying to put the goggles on straight and not be leaky. It was a panicked moment, and to say the least, I didn't do a very good job. I had goggles on crooked and they were half-full (is that pessimistic, or optimistic if used this way?) of water. That sucked. I was SO uncomfortable and distracted and now over-extending myself on the swim to just get going. I finally stopped a little later and dumped out the water and put them on straight, but the damage was done. I had some ground to make up.
I swam steady and tried to focus on getting it together, then I finally got into my rhythm and started to catch the "front group" a little. It was mostly stragglers coming off of it, but I felt like I was back into the race. Unfortunately, the screwed up start made my goggles get all fogged up and with the dark, grey conditions, it wasn't long before I couldn't see a darn thing...just grey darkness. I really had to pull my head out of the water to make out swimmers ahead of me or the buoy on shore. I just focused on swimming straight and smoothly and begged for the end to come quickly to that fiasco. I swam the one-mile swim in 24:40, which turned out to be not so bad, but was a good 2 minutes off of what I should have done, which would have been a very decent swim.
Once out, it was time for the mtn bike adventure. This course is pretty long at 20 miles. I only saw the early parts of the course and realized we were going to be in a lot of big terrain changes. I didn't want to overdo it, but was smarting from the rocky swim, so I sort of hit it pretty hard. My legs felt heavy and I had guys breathing down my neck on the previous-mentioned 3 mile decent. That always makes me nervous. I prefer to do stuff like that alone, but I would never have that luxury in this very popular and competitive race. The whole day was spent either catching guys, getting caught by guys, or trying to stay with those guys.
At the bottom of the climb, I found myself with a cluster of fast mtn bikers. I tried like hell to stay with them. I did OK at first, but when the climbing got technical, the heavy feeling was too much. My back started getting achy very early and it affected me all day. I did pretty well to ignore it mostly, but it was always there and I know it took a bit of the frosting off my cake all day. I was riding a dual suspension bike because I figured the course would be a tough one, but I think I would have rather had a much lighter hard-tail because I seemed to have more trouble on the climbs than the descents on this course, and everyone around me all had much lighter rigs. Mine is a hand-me-down from Paul Graham, who is now riding something lighter for that very reason. I admit I want to blame that quite a bit, but it was probably mostly my go-jo that seemed to be missing that day. It wasn't an awful day, but I'd say that I wasn't 100%, or even in the range of an "A" grade.
I also made quite a number of technical errors on that course. It had quite a bit of everything, and the single track had some particular challenges when racing at full speed. I was always behind some guys who were pushing me well past my comfort zone and I focused too hard on staying with them and not enough on what was coming up. At one point, we went into a stand of trees on a steep descent, where there was a stream crossing and a very steep ascent up the other side. I didn't shift in time and found myself WAY over-geared and had to dismount and run up a long hill, all the while getting passed by those who were breathing down my neck just moments ago. Plus, I must have pulled my wheel in the dropouts, because the disk brakes were rubbing badly and the shifting was all messed up. I rode like that for quite a distance while debating on whether I should pull over, lose more spots, and try to fix it. The annoyance got the best of me, so I pulled over and fixed it. It wasn't as bad as I had figured and I was soon off and riding much better. I was quickly getting disappointed in my race, however.
At times like that, you just have to suck it up and focus on improving your situation. I started focusing more on smoother transitions in and out of technical spots, climbing more smoothly, and having fun, dang it! Sure enough, I began to get my act together and felt like I was riding better and during one particularly cool long section of single track, I smiled at how much fun it all was. I got through the final long single track climb (where we met up with the short course racers), got back onto the dirt road and hit the 3 mile climb that we descended early in the race.
It was here that I felt like I was riding a heavy lead bike, but kept myself smooth and made it over in good shape. A guy who had passed me early in the race, but had suffered a pretty heinous crash (and scared the crap out of me because I nearly ran over his head) came flying by me over the top and I grabbed his wheel (drafted, cause it's legal in XTERRA =) and rode really hard into T2.
I was surprised by my T2 quickness. That's usually an indication of how into the race you are and how you might go on the run. But, it was too early to tell because the early part of this run was up a steep mountain trail. It just felt horrible and my upper body went numb. It took a lot out of me to get to the top and I had let two guys pass me early with no response. At the top, the trail started going down steep, off-camber hills, right back into steep uphills. This went on for some time before we hit a very steep downhill to the base of a nice waterfall. At the bottom, we zigged and zagged through thick forest and scrambled through creeks and over little log bridges, making direction changes every few feet. It was tough running, but I started feeling good again and was having fun.
The trail portion was a little less than half of the run. We exited the trail onto the forest road that circumnavigated the lake. It was here that I suddenly felt my run get under me, despite having some cramping in my quads and hamstrings. I used a little less range of motion and a higher turnover and started picking off guys left and right. I noticed a very tiny racer just ahead and realized it was a chick! I was confused but soon remembered that the pros started ahead and some of them were women. It turns out that this was Sara Tarkington, the woman who eventually won the overall. She was quite a runner and it took a second wind and some digging to catch up to her.
I tried to pass her, but she was having none of it and latched onto another guy who surged ahead. I couldn't respond and a gap formed. A storm was building ahead of us and the cool, moist wind was in our faces. Sarah and the other guy lost steam and I caught back up. I found my rhythm again with a couple of miles to go and just held it steady on their heels. Our little group of three (I rarely race in such close quarters with others like this) were picking off all of the fast mtn bikers who could no longer run fast. It was a LOT of fun and I was impressed with this tiny woman's running speed and toughness.
Nearing the end of the dirt road before we descended a short hill to the lakeshore and final stretch to the finish, we passed a guy with his age, 38, on his leg (I'm in the 35-39 AG). I didn't think anything of it, but he made a gasping stuttered, "Uh, uh...," noise, then said, "...that's not good." The guy had been holding 3rd in our age group until our little group, with me in tow, went flying past him. He tried for a few moments to hang onto us, but couldn't quite do it. We started picking up steam into the finish and he fell off a little bit more. I realized at the very end that I had worked my way back into the top-3 of my age group. I finished with the first place pro women and the other guy who had started off a little slow, but obviously picked it up the whole way to the finish, pretty much like I did.
Right when I finished, it started raining. Laury was still out there and had to contend with the worsening weather. He got done and went straight to the car to change and get warm. We waited around for the awards, where we found out that Kim Katko had picked up 2nd OVERALL in the women's short course race...way to go, Kim!
Laury and I hit the road in a pouring rain. It rained all the way back to the Arkansas valley. We stopped in Salida for dinner and were hit by a mob of people...it was the FibARK freak festival (river rafting and lots of other stuff) weekend. No parking, hard to get around, etc. We settled on an out of the way cafe, where the food was pretty good.
It was a great trip and a very fun, if not tough, race. Lots of racers in Colorado! It's just amazing how many of them there are and how many other events there are on any given weekend there.
If you're inclined to do an XTERRA, this one is cool, but be ready for a tough, longer course. They have the short course option too, so that would be a good start. I recommend the race for sure...
Ironman CDA report from Dan Rees
I had a good day. The swim, as usual, was my weak point. A strong wind was blowing across the lake and churning up the water. It was also colder - but it turned out to be a perfect temperature for racing hard. The water temperature in lake CDA was 65 deg. which was warmer than the air temperature. The two times I saw a thermometer during the day had the air temperature in the 40's. This was in the morning and on the way back to the hotel around 7 pm. I'm sure it got a little warmer in the day. The rain held off until just about 5 pm so the last 8 minutes of the race I had a little rain, but nothing like what the people who were out there for the duration went through later that night.
It was a shore start which resulted in a slightly more civilized swim than usual. I didn't take the same kind of physical beating I suffered at IM Arizona in November. The wind had created strange currents in the lake. The course was a rectangular course and the turns at the buoys were worst. It was two loops and you ran through a timing gate in between loops. My 1/2 way time was around 36 minutes with my full swim at 1:16. Not my best, actually pretty close to my worst. I came out the water 103 in my age group. My age group had around 270 people in it, so I knew I had a little work to do if I wanted to race Kona with Amy.
The wind was blowing 10 - 15 mph from the Southwest. This wind actually suited me well. Normally, if the wind is blowing like this I can write off the day because I don't seem to do well in the wind. However, the direction of this wind pushed you out of town and assisted you on the uphill and was in your face as you were descending back into town. The bike is two loops. with a short out and back each loop along the lake. There are substantial rolling hills in the middle of the course and it reminded me a little bit of IM Wisconsin where you would work hard to get up a hill and when you started down the other side, not get a good descent because they would put a sharp turn right at the bottom of the hill. I had ridden the course on the computrainer, so I knew what type of average speeds to expect at different points of the course. Generally, on my computrainer rides I would end up coming out of the hills averaging around 18.6 to 19 mph (keeping my HR at my race pace). I came out of the hills the first loop with an average speed of around 21.8 mph and had been passing people consistently. The wind was completely manageable descending back to town. I didn't descend as fast as I climbed but I still boosted my average speed. When I hit town, my average speed had climbed up to 21.9 mph. I held this through town until I got back out to the hills. I was pretty tired by that point, but I knew the average last qualiying time for Kona in my age group from last year was 10:17. The swim plus transistion was 1:21 and I knew that a 3:30 run would be good which forced me into a bike plus T2 of around 5:24. I finished the bike in 5:20 and had moved to 15th position within my age group.
It was pretty empty in transition and I had my own private helper who was shoving my hat on my head and my nutrition in my jersey so I moved through transistion pretty quick. The first 1/4 mile of the run was a little shaky and I got passed by a couple of the people who were with me in transition but that didn't last long. My legs remembered how to run by the time I hit the 1/2 mile mark My first mile was under 7 minutes. I then settled down into around a 7:30 pace for a good bit of the first half of the marathon. The data on the web site is wrong. The timing mat for the 21.75 mi split on the web site was really before mile 21 so it is off by about a mi. The web site shows my pace at aroung 7:30 through mi 21.75. I had actually started running between 7:30 and 8 min milse by that point. It also shows my time falling apart the last 4 mi. This didn't really happen. I slowed down, but I was still running around an 8:15 min/mi pace the last 4 miles. I was able to keep my heart rate up throughout the run. The first half of the run, my heart rate was around 145 - 147 bpm. The second half of the run, it dropped to 140 - 143 bpm. I drank mostly gatorade at the aid stations, took 4 salt pills and 2 gu's during the run, and had a mint each mile and 3 packages of enervitine. I ended up setting a PR for the run of 3:25 and a PR for the entire race of 10:08. My old PR was at IM Lake Placid last year of 10:17. I was 4th in my age group. Numbers 2 and 3 were 4 minutes and 2 minutes in front of me. The first place person in my age group was 32 minutes in front of me. Last year the Kona slots went 7 places in my age group so I pretty sure I will get one. We go down to the race venue in about 2 hours to collect the slot. Amy's going to sign up for next years race at the same time. While I am having trouble moving around quickly today, I would say that I'm in better shape at this moment than usual after an IM.
It was a shore start which resulted in a slightly more civilized swim than usual. I didn't take the same kind of physical beating I suffered at IM Arizona in November. The wind had created strange currents in the lake. The course was a rectangular course and the turns at the buoys were worst. It was two loops and you ran through a timing gate in between loops. My 1/2 way time was around 36 minutes with my full swim at 1:16. Not my best, actually pretty close to my worst. I came out the water 103 in my age group. My age group had around 270 people in it, so I knew I had a little work to do if I wanted to race Kona with Amy.
The wind was blowing 10 - 15 mph from the Southwest. This wind actually suited me well. Normally, if the wind is blowing like this I can write off the day because I don't seem to do well in the wind. However, the direction of this wind pushed you out of town and assisted you on the uphill and was in your face as you were descending back into town. The bike is two loops. with a short out and back each loop along the lake. There are substantial rolling hills in the middle of the course and it reminded me a little bit of IM Wisconsin where you would work hard to get up a hill and when you started down the other side, not get a good descent because they would put a sharp turn right at the bottom of the hill. I had ridden the course on the computrainer, so I knew what type of average speeds to expect at different points of the course. Generally, on my computrainer rides I would end up coming out of the hills averaging around 18.6 to 19 mph (keeping my HR at my race pace). I came out of the hills the first loop with an average speed of around 21.8 mph and had been passing people consistently. The wind was completely manageable descending back to town. I didn't descend as fast as I climbed but I still boosted my average speed. When I hit town, my average speed had climbed up to 21.9 mph. I held this through town until I got back out to the hills. I was pretty tired by that point, but I knew the average last qualiying time for Kona in my age group from last year was 10:17. The swim plus transistion was 1:21 and I knew that a 3:30 run would be good which forced me into a bike plus T2 of around 5:24. I finished the bike in 5:20 and had moved to 15th position within my age group.
It was pretty empty in transition and I had my own private helper who was shoving my hat on my head and my nutrition in my jersey so I moved through transistion pretty quick. The first 1/4 mile of the run was a little shaky and I got passed by a couple of the people who were with me in transition but that didn't last long. My legs remembered how to run by the time I hit the 1/2 mile mark My first mile was under 7 minutes. I then settled down into around a 7:30 pace for a good bit of the first half of the marathon. The data on the web site is wrong. The timing mat for the 21.75 mi split on the web site was really before mile 21 so it is off by about a mi. The web site shows my pace at aroung 7:30 through mi 21.75. I had actually started running between 7:30 and 8 min milse by that point. It also shows my time falling apart the last 4 mi. This didn't really happen. I slowed down, but I was still running around an 8:15 min/mi pace the last 4 miles. I was able to keep my heart rate up throughout the run. The first half of the run, my heart rate was around 145 - 147 bpm. The second half of the run, it dropped to 140 - 143 bpm. I drank mostly gatorade at the aid stations, took 4 salt pills and 2 gu's during the run, and had a mint each mile and 3 packages of enervitine. I ended up setting a PR for the run of 3:25 and a PR for the entire race of 10:08. My old PR was at IM Lake Placid last year of 10:17. I was 4th in my age group. Numbers 2 and 3 were 4 minutes and 2 minutes in front of me. The first place person in my age group was 32 minutes in front of me. Last year the Kona slots went 7 places in my age group so I pretty sure I will get one. We go down to the race venue in about 2 hours to collect the slot. Amy's going to sign up for next years race at the same time. While I am having trouble moving around quickly today, I would say that I'm in better shape at this moment than usual after an IM.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Dirt Tri babysitting? Sunday June 28th
Anyone doing the Dirt Tri in Albuquerque on Sunday Jun 28th? If you have someone coming with you who might be able to watch an 11month old during the race (~1.5 hours) let Dina know (dinavolga@yahoo.com). We can return the favor at another event or pay for it.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Pain or Pleasure?
I am just beginning to understand the contradictions and paradox of these two opposing forces. For the most part, the KS 70.3 was quite a pleasure for me. Unlike last year, the weather was conducive to a faster swim and what seemed like a shorter, less taxing bike ride. The run was certainly not the pain that I remembered from last year, both physically and mentally when the course was closed down due to bad weather. In fact this year, the sun broke through the clouds, and it got painfully hotter towards the end.
This year’s event was at a totally different venue at Clinton Reservoir from the inaugural season of 2008. The day started out painful with the mass arrival of so many participants at one time that the staff could not direct traffic into the parking area fast enough. I am sure that it would have been interesting to have hidden mics in the cars of those of us waiting in line for over 20 minutes to park. I had to really hustle to get to the swim start at T-1, which was nearly a mile away from T-2. After quickly leaving my run gear at T-2, I bolted down the hill to T-1 with barely enough time to leave my gear at my bike and head to the swim start. Thanks to a helpful person in my swim wave, I was able to zip into my wet suit and get in the water. In an earlier day, I would have been completely unnerved by this lack of prep time, but somehow I was fairly serene, and the swim was pleasurable. I was only kicked in the head once, and only got off course once.
The welcoming crowd at the swim exit was much bigger than I anticipated. I felt that I was in the upper third of the 50+ age group wave coming out of the water, and all was good. Then, it dawned on me that I had not had any time to check my tire pressure on my bike before the swim. I made the decision that “oh they feel just fine,” and went on out with the bike. In retrospect, I think they were not fully inflated, but the more critical decision that I had made was to use my gear set and wheel that I used at IM FL. That probably was not so smart as I really could have used the lower gears that I use around Taos. Probably half of the bike course remained the same from last year, but it sure seemed shorter to me. The other similar sensation from the bike course was the feeling of being passed. I really did try to pay attention to my cadence level and keep at or above 80. (I have yet to check the readings from the computer). I really have to figure out why I do not seem to have any cycling power.
Despite these feelings, I really was thoroughly enjoying the scenery. Once again, here was pleasure, but there was the somewhat painful challenge of watching my hydration (I have had two fainting spells from not watching my hydration). I have taken to riding with a Camelback, which I know is not too aero or too cool. In fact, another cyclist came by and offered to straighten up the Camelback for me (that did not help) and another person said, “That thing must cause a lot of wind drag.” I am now on a mission to find the perfect bike-specific hydration system. If I had not had my prior bouts with passing after and during bike rides, I might not be so obsessive about this, but the Camelback has to go for IM CA.
As I was passing over the very flat dam at Clinton Reservoir coming back into T-2, my mind did wander to the fact that I had not finished the Sarah Peretsky novel, Bleeding Kansas, which was set in contemporary Lawrence, but contained a lot of local history that meant a lot to me since I grew up in Lawrence and knew Sarah’s younger brother in grade school. On Friday when I went to pick up my packet, I had an even more blast from the past as one of the registration volunteers was none other than the 80+ year-old mother of a school age friend. Her jaw dropped when I re-introduced myself to her as I am sure that she could not believe that that weird little neighborhood kid from the past was participating in this triathlon. And, what is her son doing these days? No time to dwell on this, let’s get back to the run.
The run course was tightly woven around the expo area and campground where there was a great crowd and music. The only exception was a leg that dropped down the hill to T-1. I started the run thinking that I felt so much better than at the start of last year’s race. Once again, more pleasure, but that feeling started to dwindle as time went by and once again, I was being passed. The course wound through a lot of the campground, and I was constantly fooled thinking that the turnaround point was just ahead. Was it just around the next curve. No, not yet, perhaps it is at the next curve? I knew that by this time things were becoming more mental for me. I really did kick it up for the final mile coming into the finish line, and I was so exhausted that I did (once again) screw up the summary readings on my Polar monitor so that I could not get my max and avg HR. I was gunning for a 6:30 finish time, it actually was 6:42.
Now, I am truly playing mind games with myself. Did I enjoy the day so much that I did not push myself enough? Should I have endured more pain to have the pleasure of attaining my goal time?
This year’s event was at a totally different venue at Clinton Reservoir from the inaugural season of 2008. The day started out painful with the mass arrival of so many participants at one time that the staff could not direct traffic into the parking area fast enough. I am sure that it would have been interesting to have hidden mics in the cars of those of us waiting in line for over 20 minutes to park. I had to really hustle to get to the swim start at T-1, which was nearly a mile away from T-2. After quickly leaving my run gear at T-2, I bolted down the hill to T-1 with barely enough time to leave my gear at my bike and head to the swim start. Thanks to a helpful person in my swim wave, I was able to zip into my wet suit and get in the water. In an earlier day, I would have been completely unnerved by this lack of prep time, but somehow I was fairly serene, and the swim was pleasurable. I was only kicked in the head once, and only got off course once.
The welcoming crowd at the swim exit was much bigger than I anticipated. I felt that I was in the upper third of the 50+ age group wave coming out of the water, and all was good. Then, it dawned on me that I had not had any time to check my tire pressure on my bike before the swim. I made the decision that “oh they feel just fine,” and went on out with the bike. In retrospect, I think they were not fully inflated, but the more critical decision that I had made was to use my gear set and wheel that I used at IM FL. That probably was not so smart as I really could have used the lower gears that I use around Taos. Probably half of the bike course remained the same from last year, but it sure seemed shorter to me. The other similar sensation from the bike course was the feeling of being passed. I really did try to pay attention to my cadence level and keep at or above 80. (I have yet to check the readings from the computer). I really have to figure out why I do not seem to have any cycling power.
Despite these feelings, I really was thoroughly enjoying the scenery. Once again, here was pleasure, but there was the somewhat painful challenge of watching my hydration (I have had two fainting spells from not watching my hydration). I have taken to riding with a Camelback, which I know is not too aero or too cool. In fact, another cyclist came by and offered to straighten up the Camelback for me (that did not help) and another person said, “That thing must cause a lot of wind drag.” I am now on a mission to find the perfect bike-specific hydration system. If I had not had my prior bouts with passing after and during bike rides, I might not be so obsessive about this, but the Camelback has to go for IM CA.
As I was passing over the very flat dam at Clinton Reservoir coming back into T-2, my mind did wander to the fact that I had not finished the Sarah Peretsky novel, Bleeding Kansas, which was set in contemporary Lawrence, but contained a lot of local history that meant a lot to me since I grew up in Lawrence and knew Sarah’s younger brother in grade school. On Friday when I went to pick up my packet, I had an even more blast from the past as one of the registration volunteers was none other than the 80+ year-old mother of a school age friend. Her jaw dropped when I re-introduced myself to her as I am sure that she could not believe that that weird little neighborhood kid from the past was participating in this triathlon. And, what is her son doing these days? No time to dwell on this, let’s get back to the run.
The run course was tightly woven around the expo area and campground where there was a great crowd and music. The only exception was a leg that dropped down the hill to T-1. I started the run thinking that I felt so much better than at the start of last year’s race. Once again, more pleasure, but that feeling started to dwindle as time went by and once again, I was being passed. The course wound through a lot of the campground, and I was constantly fooled thinking that the turnaround point was just ahead. Was it just around the next curve. No, not yet, perhaps it is at the next curve? I knew that by this time things were becoming more mental for me. I really did kick it up for the final mile coming into the finish line, and I was so exhausted that I did (once again) screw up the summary readings on my Polar monitor so that I could not get my max and avg HR. I was gunning for a 6:30 finish time, it actually was 6:42.
Now, I am truly playing mind games with myself. Did I enjoy the day so much that I did not push myself enough? Should I have endured more pain to have the pleasure of attaining my goal time?
Trackwork 6/18/09
I plan on showing up at noon, starting the workout at 12:15
5x1000M start at your 5k pace and either hold or descend your interval
200M recovery taking around 1/3 of the interval
I will start my intervals at about 88 - 89 pace, which is a 3:40 interval, take a 1:20 recovery and send every 5:00
The key to this workout is the short active recovery, so pick a sustainable pace such that you can maintain the recovery and execute the interval.
5x1000M start at your 5k pace and either hold or descend your interval
200M recovery taking around 1/3 of the interval
I will start my intervals at about 88 - 89 pace, which is a 3:40 interval, take a 1:20 recovery and send every 5:00
The key to this workout is the short active recovery, so pick a sustainable pace such that you can maintain the recovery and execute the interval.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Trackwork 6/11/09
I plan on being at the track at noon and starting at 12:15
today....
1600, 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400 all with a brisk walking - or timed-100M recovery. Negative split your pace as you descend the ladder.
So I intend to start at a 90 second pace and basis - and my recovery basis will be a consistent 75 seconds.
The 1600 = 6:00 (90s pace), send on 7:15
The 1200 = 4:24 (88s pace), send on 13:00
The 1000 = 3:35 = (86s pace), send on 18:00
The 800 = 2:48 (84s pace), send on 22:15
The 600 = 2:03 (82s pace), send on 25:45
The 400 = 80s
For all workouts other than speed/power oriented efforts I like to control the recovery for several reasons. it provides positive structure to the entire workout allowing us to incorporate the rest phase into the active phase of the workout, and it doesn't allow us to cheat the recovery. This type of training should keep you high in the aerobic zone for the entire workout and toggle your body in and out of the anaerobic zone. This will force your body to deal with the slowly accumulating byproducts of glycogen and oxygen rich energy consumption ultimately resulting in deeper aerobic capacity and a higher anaerobic floor, a phenomenon that ideally will be realized in faster results on race day. At least, thats what I think it does.
Also, my watch is kind of a pain to reset, so it is easier to keep it running.
All speed work should be contained and controlled. Necessarily it should get more difficult, even very hard as the effort evolves, but always controlled. Concentrate on your form and pace. As always, once you start catastrophically failing the workout as planned, quit it and call it a day...there is no lost honor in this. I quit several workouts a year because I overestimated my ability and simply went too fast with too little recovery or because I was too fatigued for the planned intensity.
today....
1600, 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400 all with a brisk walking - or timed-100M recovery. Negative split your pace as you descend the ladder.
So I intend to start at a 90 second pace and basis - and my recovery basis will be a consistent 75 seconds.
The 1600 = 6:00 (90s pace), send on 7:15
The 1200 = 4:24 (88s pace), send on 13:00
The 1000 = 3:35 = (86s pace), send on 18:00
The 800 = 2:48 (84s pace), send on 22:15
The 600 = 2:03 (82s pace), send on 25:45
The 400 = 80s
For all workouts other than speed/power oriented efforts I like to control the recovery for several reasons. it provides positive structure to the entire workout allowing us to incorporate the rest phase into the active phase of the workout, and it doesn't allow us to cheat the recovery. This type of training should keep you high in the aerobic zone for the entire workout and toggle your body in and out of the anaerobic zone. This will force your body to deal with the slowly accumulating byproducts of glycogen and oxygen rich energy consumption ultimately resulting in deeper aerobic capacity and a higher anaerobic floor, a phenomenon that ideally will be realized in faster results on race day. At least, thats what I think it does.
Also, my watch is kind of a pain to reset, so it is easier to keep it running.
All speed work should be contained and controlled. Necessarily it should get more difficult, even very hard as the effort evolves, but always controlled. Concentrate on your form and pace. As always, once you start catastrophically failing the workout as planned, quit it and call it a day...there is no lost honor in this. I quit several workouts a year because I overestimated my ability and simply went too fast with too little recovery or because I was too fatigued for the planned intensity.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Race Report Deuces Wild Tri Festival, Show Low, AZ 05/30,31
The Deuces Wild Tri festival was last weekend – they have five events, including the kid's race – a little something for everyone. There's a half ironman distance race, an aquabike for those who want the half distance without the run, an Olympic distance race and a kid's race all on Saturday, and an XTERRA on Sunday. Show Low is a 5:15 drive from LA, and don't forget Arizona does not observe daylight savings time, so you lose an hour as you cross the border (a little tidbit forgotten by yours truly. And Laurie Goddard, so I didn't feel quite so much of a doofus). You can check-in at the venue till 7:00 Friday night, but can also do so early on race day.
The Triatomics who participated: Dina and Char Latham from Santa Fe both did the Olympic, Clay and Laurie both did the XTERRA, and I participated in the half. Our boys were supposed to do the kids race, but it got postponed till Sunday morning due to heavy rain mid-day, and we had to leave late Saturday night, so we'll have to wait till next year for that one.
Race morning was nice, a bit chilly (Show Low is around 6300' – helps for Northern New Mexicans, hurts the Phoenix and Tucson people) and there was the usual pre-race discussion about how much clothing to wear. Water temp was reported to be 62 degrees – I was actually comfortable with just my wetsuit, no booties or skull cap like I saw some racers wearing. The men went off at 6:30, women left 4 minutes later. I had a little trouble sighting, as usual, but got out of the water unscathed. It always seems like a long 1.2 miles to me. I knew there were a clump of women ahead of me, but not how many. With all of the men ahead as well, it's pretty tough to know where you stand. Out on the bike I passed 4 or 5 women fairly early on, and then just kept riding. I passed a couple more about a quarter of the way through. The course is a bit hilly but not bad. Especially for those of us who ride the loop on a regular basis. There is a long hill around mile 40, but certainly no worse than coming up from the Bandelier entrance to the back gate, and nothing as bad as climbing out of Ancho. My only complaint – there were a lot more people in the Olympic distance race than the long course and from about mile 27 till I came up to Olympic racers where their bike course joined the long course, I was by myself. That is a long time to stay focused.
The run was a two-loop course that consisted of dirt trail, concrete, asphalt, and hills that sneaked up on you. Definitely not a fast course. I ended up leaving too much out on the bike and never really felt that spring in my step that I usually feel after the first mile or so. It was a slow slog for me and lots of effort. Only one mile was sub 8:00, and at 7:58 for mile 1, I barely even made that milestone. There are a couple of places you have a turn around and can see your competitors. Olympic and long course share the same run, so it was fun to cheer for Char and Dina as we passed each other. I wasn't sure till the half way point for the half that I was in first place – with all of the competitors on the same course and the only delineation being the color of your bib number, and the two-loop nature, there was lots of ways to get it mixed up. I ended up coming in first, though, and beat second by quite a bit (18 minutes).
This is a great race for prizes: overall winners went 5 deep and each received a significant gift certificates to TriSports.com (the race sponsor), as well as a Spinervals CD for all AG first place,s and a decorative keychain holder thing (OK, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that – for now it's stuck in a corner with all of the other race stuff), and finishers medals for all. Plus, they have a HUGE raffle and give away really great stuff – multiple wetsuits, running and cycling shoes, aerobar sets, a Kuota bike frame, a very cool Felt cruiser, and tons of smaller stuff – well worth waiting around for Saturday evening.
I posted a couple of photos on the Photo webpage – don't worry, Clay, Dan came through for you and got some of Dina racing.
The Triatomics who participated: Dina and Char Latham from Santa Fe both did the Olympic, Clay and Laurie both did the XTERRA, and I participated in the half. Our boys were supposed to do the kids race, but it got postponed till Sunday morning due to heavy rain mid-day, and we had to leave late Saturday night, so we'll have to wait till next year for that one.
Race morning was nice, a bit chilly (Show Low is around 6300' – helps for Northern New Mexicans, hurts the Phoenix and Tucson people) and there was the usual pre-race discussion about how much clothing to wear. Water temp was reported to be 62 degrees – I was actually comfortable with just my wetsuit, no booties or skull cap like I saw some racers wearing. The men went off at 6:30, women left 4 minutes later. I had a little trouble sighting, as usual, but got out of the water unscathed. It always seems like a long 1.2 miles to me. I knew there were a clump of women ahead of me, but not how many. With all of the men ahead as well, it's pretty tough to know where you stand. Out on the bike I passed 4 or 5 women fairly early on, and then just kept riding. I passed a couple more about a quarter of the way through. The course is a bit hilly but not bad. Especially for those of us who ride the loop on a regular basis. There is a long hill around mile 40, but certainly no worse than coming up from the Bandelier entrance to the back gate, and nothing as bad as climbing out of Ancho. My only complaint – there were a lot more people in the Olympic distance race than the long course and from about mile 27 till I came up to Olympic racers where their bike course joined the long course, I was by myself. That is a long time to stay focused.
The run was a two-loop course that consisted of dirt trail, concrete, asphalt, and hills that sneaked up on you. Definitely not a fast course. I ended up leaving too much out on the bike and never really felt that spring in my step that I usually feel after the first mile or so. It was a slow slog for me and lots of effort. Only one mile was sub 8:00, and at 7:58 for mile 1, I barely even made that milestone. There are a couple of places you have a turn around and can see your competitors. Olympic and long course share the same run, so it was fun to cheer for Char and Dina as we passed each other. I wasn't sure till the half way point for the half that I was in first place – with all of the competitors on the same course and the only delineation being the color of your bib number, and the two-loop nature, there was lots of ways to get it mixed up. I ended up coming in first, though, and beat second by quite a bit (18 minutes).
This is a great race for prizes: overall winners went 5 deep and each received a significant gift certificates to TriSports.com (the race sponsor), as well as a Spinervals CD for all AG first place,s and a decorative keychain holder thing (OK, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that – for now it's stuck in a corner with all of the other race stuff), and finishers medals for all. Plus, they have a HUGE raffle and give away really great stuff – multiple wetsuits, running and cycling shoes, aerobar sets, a Kuota bike frame, a very cool Felt cruiser, and tons of smaller stuff – well worth waiting around for Saturday evening.
I posted a couple of photos on the Photo webpage – don't worry, Clay, Dan came through for you and got some of Dina racing.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Trackwork 6/4/09
2x3000M at tempo pace.....around 10k, pace or so...400M jog between.
I was right at 93-94 pace for the efforts finishing at 11:43 for both.
I was right at 93-94 pace for the efforts finishing at 11:43 for both.
Track
2x3000M at tempo pace.....around 10k, pace or so...400M jog between.
I was right at 93-94 pace for the efforts finishing at 11:43 for both.
I was right at 93-94 pace for the efforts finishing at 11:43 for both.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Deuces Wild!
Well, we managed to make it all the way over to Show Low, AZ for the Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival. This is a great race weekend that everyone should experience. They have the DeuceMan 1/2 IM distance race, an Olympic distance race, and a pretty wild XTERRA on Sunday. It was perfect for our little "tri family," as Dina was able to race the Olympic on Saturday while I hung out with Mila, then it was my turn for the XTERRA race on Sunday.
We took the camper and camped the first night at El Malpais Nat'l Monument (very cool place and worth a trip there on its own). Then we went to the race venue at Fool's Hollow Lake in Show Low, but missed getting the very last spot by about 20 minutes...luckily, I had a sneaky backup plan that had us camping right outside the park on a dirt road, but within range of riding to the races each day...very sneaky indeed. The camping near the lake is fantastic.
I have to apologize that I didn't take ONE SINGLE photo of Dina racing. I never even thought to pull out the camera because I had Mila in tow and she needed to eat, sleep, play, eat again, get her diaper changed, and we worked hard on being at the right place on the course for cheering when Dina came in from each leg.
(late update: Dan Rees graciously sent me some pictures he took of Dina during the run leg of her race...thanks to Dan for saving me on that one)
Like I said before, Dina has had a very rough spring with nagging injuries, colds and other strange viruses, so this was going to be interesting. She didn't get to train a single time between Jay Benson and the Deuces Wild Olympic...whoa!
She managed just fine and paced herself after taking off very aggro in the swim and realizing her body wasn't quite ready for that. She backed off and swam steady, then biked steady into T-2 for an unknown run leg. She wasn't sure she would be able to finish, but she did with smiles and laughs to spare. I was amazed at her spirit and ability to push on and do quite well. She did the whole thing in something like 3:16...it's a hilly course and not fast for an Olympic.
A couple of comments on Dina's race: although she got a little nervous beforehand because it is a race, she didn't let it get to her too much even though she was going into a pretty competitive race with virtually NO training. I was impressed. She started out pretty hard, but realized that wasn't the right thing to do and backed off to a level she could sustain and had fun the rest of the race. She stopped to kiss Mila a couple of times, play games with Ben and John Rees (and nearly miss a timing mat in the process), etc. She still ended up 3rd in the Athena category.
On Sunday, the XTERRA went pretty well for me and I'm overall satisfied. I can't really complain, but did have a couple of minor problems.
After Dina's race on Saturday, I attempted to get out on the mtn bike for a quick ride around the bike course, but they're having early monsoons there too and I got hit by a nasty fierce storm at the top of the long, broad dome mountain that we have to climb to the top of in the race. With the lightning and hail, I had to act fast and hoof it back down the way I went up in the sloppy mud and cold, driving rain. It screwed up my bike a little bit and my brakes were rubbing pretty badly for some reason when I got back to the camper. I tried to fix them later, but it didn't seem like I was 100% successful (dang disk brakes!). I didn't worry too much about it since they often sort themselves out magically once you use them a few times on a ride.
The next morning dawned chilly and we were to the race venue with baby Mila by 6AM...way to go Mommy! I didn't have too much to worry about and even got in a good little warmup. I checked the disk brakes again and they were rubbing a little but I had hope they wouldn't hamper my speed too much.
I got enough warmup for the swim and started in the front, and when the gun went off, I hit it hard right in the scrum. I hate those aggressive swim starts, but I wanted to get out in front quickly to avoid being too far back on the mtn bike single track (passing is not so easy in mtn biking). I was quickly engulfed by the idiots and hit in the head and pushed down, so I backed off to the second line. Soon, most of those clown blew up and I found some open water in front, but could still see swimmers ahead of me, so I had no idea what place I was. I got into a very good rhythm and knew it was a good swim when I exited the water. I felt good going up the ramp to the wetsuit strippers, but they botched the strip job and it took probably 30 seconds longer than it should have. Some guys passed me in transition and I would have to work to catch them.
Out on the bike, I was feeling good. But I soon realized that my brakes were scrubbing my speed somewhat and I was getting caught by a few guys who would not normally ride up to me like that. I struggled on the early shallow climbs in the woods until it got steeper. I tried to just dug a little deeper to stay with a couple of guys that I just couldn't let go. It was a little frustrating, but I figured it might not matter on the downhill side of the mountain.
We soon got a little higher on the mountain where the rain fell the hardest and the mud was DEEP and sticky. It is that structural mud that makes fine adobe, and that's exactly what happened on our bikes. It stuck to everything and we were all soon pedaling 50 lbs+ bikes up that steep hill. We would loose 2/3 of our pedal power to slippage, and it began to be a battle of survival. Guys were clogging up everywhere and falling down and just mentally losing it. It was a little comical, but not so much when we were "in the thick of it." I knew the course just got steeper and steeper at that point, so I found a very low gear, let it skip out for a minute or two until the chain wore through the mud and just kept it there. I was a good strategy and I began to catch and pass those guys who had passed me not long before. I kept riding, to my amazement, while they were all forced to push and/or pull their mud-laden bikes up the ever-steepening gradient. We soon hit the upper stretches where there were rocks mixed in with the mud, and that made it interesting because the sticky mud would pick up the rocks and lodge them tightly between wheels and brakes, or wheels and frame. It finally caught up to me too (at one point, I think I was the only one still actually on my bike) and I was stopped dead in my tracks and fell over onto another guy who was pushing his bike at almost the same speed as me -- my cleats were all clogged up and wouldn't unclip from the pedals. So, I had to push a bit, but the really rocky section saved me because the mud cleared enough to get back on and ride the rest of the way to the top, where I figured I was back in the top-5 to 10 spots and now motoring with a lot more gusto.
I hit the nasty descent and never looked back. I knew that everyone else were now having at least as much trouble with their bikes as I had been, so I made hay while I had the chance. I pushed the limits on the very slick, muddy descents and used my brakes very little. We got to an intersection of muddy trail with muddy road and the people said we were about 3 minutes behind the leaders and we're in about 5th, 6th, 7th...that was good news.
The rest of the bike went well and I ended up with the 7th fastest bike split and in about 7th place (that's not always the case). I never felt bad on the bike, whereas last year, I felt a little crapped out by the final steep climb before the last descent into T-2, so I was happy going into the run.
I had a much better T-2 and hit the road in 7th/8th. I love it when you begin to feel your running legs early in a race. I had 6th place in my sights pretty early and ran him down before the course got really technical.
XTERRAs are weird. The course designers are encouraged to throw a lot of obstacles in your way, and that's what they do at this XTERRA. Much of the run is standard off-road running, but at one point, we had to run down a nasty slick rocky hill to the bottom of a lake spillway wash with huge boulders (imagine running across the Cochiti Lake dam), then back up a long, nearly verticle hill. That was at mile #1! That cracks your legs for the rest of the race and you never fully recover from it. I did better than last year and got my speed back up. I began to see a couple of guys ahead, but one guy that I entered T-2 just behind was just killing it and he was pulling away, despite my good run feelings. I saw the guys he was catching and figured I might if I really pushed it, so I did.
Way out on the far end, there's an out-and-back on a jeep road, and that's the first time we got to see where we were. I was in 6th, with 4th and 5th clearly not running as fast as I was, but still quite a ways ahead. Oddly, I thought 2nd looked a little slow too, but too far ahead for this late in the race. I pushed it hard and hoped 4th and 5th would crack. I got my wish with 5th...he died just enough, but 4th held tough.
Again, we had to descend a loose rocky slope to swampy islet of the lake and they made us run right through the lake...not as badly as last year, where it was chest deep and I was forced to actually swim. This time, it was only up the thigh depth and I elected to stay on my feet. Beyond that, it's another steep uphill trudge, now with totally squishy wet feet. Just before getting on the final stretches of the lake bike path and the final paved finishing stretch, they took us down into another swamp, where I got a little lost but have Dina's cheering to thank for helping me navigate to the correct place to climb back up to the lake path.
At that final point, I turned it on with what I had, but felt a knarly hamstring cramp forming and had to back off, so I never quite caught the 4th place guy, who had had a great bike ride.
So, it was 5th overall and I was happy. We all had a lot of war stories to share with each other.
Dina and I noticed how the Arizona tri scene is quite different from ours. These guys all have these entourage "posses" of other people who do everything for them and blow smoke up their butts and just hang out with these guys. They all have fancy haircuts and cars and clothes and what the heck is that all about?
So, it was a fun trip. Now we're off to the Milkman this weekend.
We took the camper and camped the first night at El Malpais Nat'l Monument (very cool place and worth a trip there on its own). Then we went to the race venue at Fool's Hollow Lake in Show Low, but missed getting the very last spot by about 20 minutes...luckily, I had a sneaky backup plan that had us camping right outside the park on a dirt road, but within range of riding to the races each day...very sneaky indeed. The camping near the lake is fantastic.
I have to apologize that I didn't take ONE SINGLE photo of Dina racing. I never even thought to pull out the camera because I had Mila in tow and she needed to eat, sleep, play, eat again, get her diaper changed, and we worked hard on being at the right place on the course for cheering when Dina came in from each leg.
(late update: Dan Rees graciously sent me some pictures he took of Dina during the run leg of her race...thanks to Dan for saving me on that one)
Like I said before, Dina has had a very rough spring with nagging injuries, colds and other strange viruses, so this was going to be interesting. She didn't get to train a single time between Jay Benson and the Deuces Wild Olympic...whoa!
She managed just fine and paced herself after taking off very aggro in the swim and realizing her body wasn't quite ready for that. She backed off and swam steady, then biked steady into T-2 for an unknown run leg. She wasn't sure she would be able to finish, but she did with smiles and laughs to spare. I was amazed at her spirit and ability to push on and do quite well. She did the whole thing in something like 3:16...it's a hilly course and not fast for an Olympic.
A couple of comments on Dina's race: although she got a little nervous beforehand because it is a race, she didn't let it get to her too much even though she was going into a pretty competitive race with virtually NO training. I was impressed. She started out pretty hard, but realized that wasn't the right thing to do and backed off to a level she could sustain and had fun the rest of the race. She stopped to kiss Mila a couple of times, play games with Ben and John Rees (and nearly miss a timing mat in the process), etc. She still ended up 3rd in the Athena category.
On Sunday, the XTERRA went pretty well for me and I'm overall satisfied. I can't really complain, but did have a couple of minor problems.After Dina's race on Saturday, I attempted to get out on the mtn bike for a quick ride around the bike course, but they're having early monsoons there too and I got hit by a nasty fierce storm at the top of the long, broad dome mountain that we have to climb to the top of in the race. With the lightning and hail, I had to act fast and hoof it back down the way I went up in the sloppy mud and cold, driving rain. It screwed up my bike a little bit and my brakes were rubbing pretty badly for some reason when I got back to the camper. I tried to fix them later, but it didn't seem like I was 100% successful (dang disk brakes!). I didn't worry too much about it since they often sort themselves out magically once you use them a few times on a ride.
The next morning dawned chilly and we were to the race venue with baby Mila by 6AM...way to go Mommy! I didn't have too much to worry about and even got in a good little warmup. I checked the disk brakes again and they were rubbing a little but I had hope they wouldn't hamper my speed too much.
I got enough warmup for the swim and started in the front, and when the gun went off, I hit it hard right in the scrum. I hate those aggressive swim starts, but I wanted to get out in front quickly to avoid being too far back on the mtn bike single track (passing is not so easy in mtn biking). I was quickly engulfed by the idiots and hit in the head and pushed down, so I backed off to the second line. Soon, most of those clown blew up and I found some open water in front, but could still see swimmers ahead of me, so I had no idea what place I was. I got into a very good rhythm and knew it was a good swim when I exited the water. I felt good going up the ramp to the wetsuit strippers, but they botched the strip job and it took probably 30 seconds longer than it should have. Some guys passed me in transition and I would have to work to catch them.
Out on the bike, I was feeling good. But I soon realized that my brakes were scrubbing my speed somewhat and I was getting caught by a few guys who would not normally ride up to me like that. I struggled on the early shallow climbs in the woods until it got steeper. I tried to just dug a little deeper to stay with a couple of guys that I just couldn't let go. It was a little frustrating, but I figured it might not matter on the downhill side of the mountain.
We soon got a little higher on the mountain where the rain fell the hardest and the mud was DEEP and sticky. It is that structural mud that makes fine adobe, and that's exactly what happened on our bikes. It stuck to everything and we were all soon pedaling 50 lbs+ bikes up that steep hill. We would loose 2/3 of our pedal power to slippage, and it began to be a battle of survival. Guys were clogging up everywhere and falling down and just mentally losing it. It was a little comical, but not so much when we were "in the thick of it." I knew the course just got steeper and steeper at that point, so I found a very low gear, let it skip out for a minute or two until the chain wore through the mud and just kept it there. I was a good strategy and I began to catch and pass those guys who had passed me not long before. I kept riding, to my amazement, while they were all forced to push and/or pull their mud-laden bikes up the ever-steepening gradient. We soon hit the upper stretches where there were rocks mixed in with the mud, and that made it interesting because the sticky mud would pick up the rocks and lodge them tightly between wheels and brakes, or wheels and frame. It finally caught up to me too (at one point, I think I was the only one still actually on my bike) and I was stopped dead in my tracks and fell over onto another guy who was pushing his bike at almost the same speed as me -- my cleats were all clogged up and wouldn't unclip from the pedals. So, I had to push a bit, but the really rocky section saved me because the mud cleared enough to get back on and ride the rest of the way to the top, where I figured I was back in the top-5 to 10 spots and now motoring with a lot more gusto.
I hit the nasty descent and never looked back. I knew that everyone else were now having at least as much trouble with their bikes as I had been, so I made hay while I had the chance. I pushed the limits on the very slick, muddy descents and used my brakes very little. We got to an intersection of muddy trail with muddy road and the people said we were about 3 minutes behind the leaders and we're in about 5th, 6th, 7th...that was good news.
The rest of the bike went well and I ended up with the 7th fastest bike split and in about 7th place (that's not always the case). I never felt bad on the bike, whereas last year, I felt a little crapped out by the final steep climb before the last descent into T-2, so I was happy going into the run.
I had a much better T-2 and hit the road in 7th/8th. I love it when you begin to feel your running legs early in a race. I had 6th place in my sights pretty early and ran him down before the course got really technical.
XTERRAs are weird. The course designers are encouraged to throw a lot of obstacles in your way, and that's what they do at this XTERRA. Much of the run is standard off-road running, but at one point, we had to run down a nasty slick rocky hill to the bottom of a lake spillway wash with huge boulders (imagine running across the Cochiti Lake dam), then back up a long, nearly verticle hill. That was at mile #1! That cracks your legs for the rest of the race and you never fully recover from it. I did better than last year and got my speed back up. I began to see a couple of guys ahead, but one guy that I entered T-2 just behind was just killing it and he was pulling away, despite my good run feelings. I saw the guys he was catching and figured I might if I really pushed it, so I did.
Way out on the far end, there's an out-and-back on a jeep road, and that's the first time we got to see where we were. I was in 6th, with 4th and 5th clearly not running as fast as I was, but still quite a ways ahead. Oddly, I thought 2nd looked a little slow too, but too far ahead for this late in the race. I pushed it hard and hoped 4th and 5th would crack. I got my wish with 5th...he died just enough, but 4th held tough.
Again, we had to descend a loose rocky slope to swampy islet of the lake and they made us run right through the lake...not as badly as last year, where it was chest deep and I was forced to actually swim. This time, it was only up the thigh depth and I elected to stay on my feet. Beyond that, it's another steep uphill trudge, now with totally squishy wet feet. Just before getting on the final stretches of the lake bike path and the final paved finishing stretch, they took us down into another swamp, where I got a little lost but have Dina's cheering to thank for helping me navigate to the correct place to climb back up to the lake path.
At that final point, I turned it on with what I had, but felt a knarly hamstring cramp forming and had to back off, so I never quite caught the 4th place guy, who had had a great bike ride.
So, it was 5th overall and I was happy. We all had a lot of war stories to share with each other.
Dina and I noticed how the Arizona tri scene is quite different from ours. These guys all have these entourage "posses" of other people who do everything for them and blow smoke up their butts and just hang out with these guys. They all have fancy haircuts and cars and clothes and what the heck is that all about?
So, it was a fun trip. Now we're off to the Milkman this weekend.
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